


Are you the lesbian who saves the cats?

by Shutterbug23



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Lesbian Cat Rescuer, SwanQueen Fanfiction Facebook Group (Once Upon a Time), prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:35:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22653340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shutterbug23/pseuds/Shutterbug23
Summary: Inspired by the post, "A guy who lives on my street rang my doorbell and said, "Are you the lesbian who saves the cats?" And I said, "Yes. That's exactly who I am. Let me get my coat."Regina loses her cat during the 4th of July fireworks, when she realizes it the next morning she panics before remembering seeing something about a cat rescuer in the area.Just a short fluff piece.
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan
Comments: 17
Kudos: 145





	Are you the lesbian who saves the cats?

**Author's Note:**

> When I saw this post I laughed so hard because I am the lesbian who saves the cats and hope this one day happens to me. I didn't make any connections to fandoms until I saw it posted in the SwanQueen Fanfiction group and knew I had to write something for it. Hope you all enjoy.

“Esme? Where are you?” Regina called as she walked downstairs. The cat usually made it a habit of trying to suffocate her in her sleep, but with the fireworks going on last night she wasn’t too surprised that she was in hiding. 

She made her way into the kitchen and reached into one of the bottom cupboards, pulling out a can of food that was sure to make her come running. Regina tapped the lid a few times before opening the can and dumping it into the bowl. She set it down on the floor before calling out again.

“Esme? Want some food?” 

When she was met with silence she rolled her eyes, clearly the cat wasn’t going to come out of hiding until she was good and ready. She looked around her once clean kitchen. Trash cans were overflowing, cups and bottles littered the counters and floor, and food had been left out from the night before. 

A soft snore came from the next room over and she made her way over, wondering who had crashed on her couch the night before. The fiery red hair came into view before anything else and Regina smirked, at least now she wouldn’t have to clean up the mess on her own.

“Zelena. Zelena wake up.” She shook her shoulder lightly.

“5 more minutes.”

“There’s a giant mess in my kitchen and some of us need to work today.”

Zelena groaned and rolled over, shoving her face into the pillow. Regina reached down and pulled the pillow out from under her sister, laughing as she watched Zelena’s face hit the cushion. 

“I hate you.”

“Well, dear sister, you are responsible for at least half of the mess in my house right now. Get up and help clean it up. I’ll make coffee.” 

With that, Regina turned and walked out of the living room and made her way back to the kitchen. She pulled her phone out and pulled up Spotify, setting it to shuffle through her liked songs. Bags were pulled from the cupboard and she shifted a few things on the table to make room for them.

She pulled the coffee beans out of the cupboard and poured them into her electric grinder before prepping the french press. With that all set she sighed as she looked around her kitchen before picking up one of the bags and shaking it out, beginning to drop trash into it. 

“Did you have to wake me at the ass crack of dawn?”

“It’s 6:30 Zelena, don’t be dramatic.”

“Like I said, the ass crack of dawn. Is the coffee ready at least?”

“Will be soon, start cleaning up.” Regina tossed a bag at her.

Zelena rolled her eyes but opened the bag and started to drop items into it, “Do you want any of this saved?”

“Absolutely not.” Regina scrunched up her nose at the thought of eating food that had been left out over night.

The sisters worked in silence clearing the entire table and counter before Regina set the bag on the ground and pressed the handle down. She grabbed a couple of mugs as well as the cream and sugar.

“Coffee is ready.” She poured the coffee into the mugs, pushing one towards Zelena and dropping a spoonful of sugar into her own.

“Are you staying here today? I’ve got to get ready for work, can you finish this up?”

“I’m not sure yet, I’ve got the rest of the week off but I need to run some errands. I can finish up here first though.”

“Oh hey, and if you see Esme, let me know, I haven’t seen her this morning. She’s probably just hiding but I’m a bit worried.”

“Will do.”

***

Regina checked her watch, it was only 4:30 but she was debating cutting out early. There wasn’t much left to do that she couldn’t manage to do at home anyways. Before she could overthink it she saved her current files and packed her things up. As she exited her office she smiled over at her secretary, “I’m leaving early, feel free to finish up what you’re working on and do the same. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Thanks Mayor Mills, see you tomorrow.”

Regina smiled and made her way to the car, she sat there for a moment scrolling through her emails before putting her phone back into her purse and making her way home. 

The house was quiet as she walked in and she was glad to see the kitchen and dining room looking much cleaner than she had left it. She stopped mid-step though as she realized the cat food she had set out that morning had yet to be touched.

“Esme?” Regina began looking around the house, calling the cat’s name repeatedly. The two year old cat had never liked fireworks in the past, but usually came crawling out the next day once things had settled down.

She opened the door to the basement, shining the flashlight on her phone into corners and under things as she listened for the familiar chime of the bell on her collar.

“Esme where are you?”

Her heart began to race, this wasn’t like her and she couldn’t help but imagine the worst as she continued to search for the missing cat. Deciding the basement was clear she made her way back upstairs, searching under the couch and in other various places she had seen the cat hide before. Her movements grew quicker as she ran up the stairs to the second floor. She grabbed a bag of treats from the table beside her bed and began shaking it as she went from room to room. She pulled out her phone as she exited the last room dialing Zelena’s number.

“Zelena. Have you seen Esme?”

“No, has she still not come out of hiding?”

“No. And I’ve checked all of her normal hiding spots. Could she have gotten out last night?”

“I don’t think so, but there were so many people… have you checked outside at all?”

“No. Oh god Zelena, what if she got out?”

“Calm down, you’ll find her. I’ll be over later tonight and help you look for her. Meanwhile, why don’t you put something up on that Nextdoor app you’re always talking about, maybe someone has seen her.”

“Okay, call me when you’re on your way.” Regina hung up without waiting for a reply, anxious to check and see if anyone in the neighborhood had seen her cat.

She ran back downstairs and grabbed her laptop out of her bag, setting it up on the kitchen counter, her fingers drumming quickly as she waited for it to power up. 

“Fuck,” she swore as she typed in the password wrong for the 3rd time. She took a deep breath and tried to steady her hands, typing it in again. 

She pulled up her browser, already set to Nextdoor as the home page, and began typing in a new post,

***URGENT*** LOST CAT

Black, medium haired cat with green eyes got out sometime between last night and this morning. Scared of fireworks and must have escaped while someone had the door open. She is friendly and her name is Esme. She has a silver collar on with a purple paw print tag. Has anyone seen her? 

Regina closed the laptop again and turned the volume on her phone up, hoping the email chime would come soon alerting her to a possible response. She hurried outside and began checking around her house, looking under the porch and around the bushes before she remembered something.

A woman had frequently commented on the lost animal posts in the neighborhood, she ran or worked with a rescue and if she remembered right she lived right down the street. She had seen the flash of blonde hair loading what looked like metal and plastic crates between her house and SUV many times in the past. 

Would it be weird to just show up at her house? She shook her head, mind made up. Weird or not, her cat was missing and at this point she’d do just about anything to get her back safely. She went around to the front of the house and quickly made her way to the street, thanking whatever God was out there that the SUV was sitting in the driveway.

Regina hurried over to the house, ringing the doorbell and knocking multiple times. 

“Yes?” The blonde woman asked raising an eyebrow at Regina.

“Hi. I’m Regina. Are you the lesbian who saves the cats?”

“Most call me Emma, but I guess that’s an accurate description.” 

“I’m sorry. That was rude of me. My cat is missing, she ran out last night during the fireworks I think. I can’t find her.”

Emma looked down at her watch, “I have about half an hour before I need to be somewhere else, but I can help you set up some traps before I leave. Let me just grab some things and I’ll meet you by the garage door.”

“Thank you so much Emma.”

Regina smiled at Emma as the garage door opened revealing the blonde with a bag over one shoulder. She had what looked like four metal crates sitting by her feet.

“Could you grab two of these?”

“Sure, what are they?”

“They’re haveaheart traps, they’re humane traps to help catch cats and other small animals.”

“She won’t get hurt in one of these right?”

“Not at all, but when indoor cats, she is an indoor cat right?” Emma paused.

“Yeah, I would never let her outside.”

“Good, too many dangers out there for cats. Anyways, when indoor cats get out they can become a bit skittish, even with their owners. We usually have better luck luring them with these traps and some food, that’s what in this bag.”

Regina nodded in understanding as she led the way back to her house. 

“Have you looked around outside for her yet?”

“A couple of places, just in the bushes and under the porch really.”

“Alright, well, give me a few minutes, I’ll do a more thorough sweep and then we can get to setting these traps up. Could you go and grab some of her favorite food? Wet please.”

“Sure.” Regina made her way into the house and grabbed a few cans of the food from the cupboard before making her way back outside. Emma was shining a flash light around as she bent down in the bushes and Regina couldn’t help but notice how the jeans hugged her ass just right. She shook her head at the thought, there were more important things to worry about right now.

“I brought 4 cans out, is that enough Emma?”

“It is. I have some stuff as well that we’ll use to bait the traps. I haven’t seen her yet but that doesn’t mean she’s not around here. It’s common for cats to stick close to home when they get out. Are you going to be around today?"

"I don't have any plans."

“Alright, we’ll set two back here and two out front, hopefully she gets hungry and makes her way towards the smell.” 

Emma picked up two of the traps and made her way over to one of the bushes closest to the house, “We’ll set this one right here. You’ll need to come check these at least once an hour, you don’t want her, or another animal, sitting here for too long in this heat.”

Regina nodded and watched as Emma started taking items out of her bag.

“Hand me one of those cans? We’ll put the whole can in the back of the trap and then use the tuna juice and sardines to make a trail into the trap for her. The strong fish smell attracts cats and we want to make this as tempting as possible for her.”

Emma popped the lid off of plastic tub and slid it into the back of the trap, then slid the trap into the bush, leaving just the opening slightly out of it, “To set the trap you’re going to want to push this bar against this door and pull it up. On the right side over here there is a little hook and bar. Just slip the bar under the hook and it’s all set. There is a pressure plate in the back that when she steps on it, it’ll snap the door shut and she’ll be trapped in there.”

“Could you show me one more time?” Regina asked.

“I’m actually going to have you set the next three, just to make sure you’ve got it,” Emma said as she unscrewed the lid of a bottle and began pouring it around and over the trap.

“This is just a mix of tuna, anchovies, and sardines, easier to mix up a big batch and put it into smaller containers I’ve found. Alright, if you want to grab the next trap we’ll set it towards the back of the yard, near that tree.”

Regina nodded, picked up the trap, and made her way over to the tree.

“Alright, so how do I do this again?”

Emma slid the next plastic tub of food into the back of the trap and set it where she wanted it before motioning for Regina to join her on the ground. 

“So, this thin metal bar, press it back against the door and then lift the whole door up as far as it’ll go. Yeah, just like that. Then this thin bar over on the side, just kind of pull that forward and the bar will go under the hook. Now let go. Perfect!”

“That was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. She’ll step on that raised plate and it’ll make the door shut? What if she doesn’t step on it?”

“Usually they will with no problem, but if you’re worried we can line the bottom of the trap with cardboard. I usually only do that with kittens though, they’re lighter and sometimes need a bit more help setting it off.”

“No no, you’re the expert here, I trust you.”

Emma smiled at her and rested her hand against Regina’s forearm, “I know it’s worrisome when your cat runs away, but I do this almost every day, we’ll find her.”

Regina smiled at the warm touch, “Thank you Emma.”

“Of course, anytime. Come on, let’s set the next two.”

They made their way to the front yard and quickly set the traps in both corners of the yard before walking up towards her doorstep. 

“Shoot, I should have offered you a drink. Do you want to come in for water or some cider?”

“No thanks, I really do need to get going, I’ve got to pick up a couple cats from the clinic. Make sure you’re checking the traps every hour or so, they make a pretty loud noise when they shut as well, just keep an ear out for it. If you haven’t already as well make a post on the Nextdoor app for the neighborhood and on Facebook, there are quite a few lost animal pages for the city.”

“I already posted on the Nextdoor app, but I’ll check out the Facebook groups as soon as I get back to my computer. Is there anything else I can do?”

“Not for right now, I know it’s hard to sit around and wait. Do you have your phone on you? I’ll give you my number and if you need anything or spot her you can call me.”

Regina passed her phone over to the blonde with a smile, “I really do appreciate this so much, the world needs more people who care about animals as much as you do.”

“There definitely aren’t enough rescuers around, that’s for sure. Alright Regina, I’ll see you later on.”

“See you, thanks again.” 

Regina watched as Emma jogged back to her house before turning and making her way inside. She opened her laptop again and walked over to the couch, hoping someone had responded to her post. There were a few replies on the post, but most were just recommendations on what to do, including a couple telling her to reach out to Emma. 

She typed out a quick thank you to those who had responded so far and let them know that she had found Emma and traps had been set. With that she began browsing through lost and found pet pages in the local area, joining every single one of them, hoping for a quick approval so she could make her post. 

There had been so many lost animal posts on the Nextdoor app and most resolved in the pet being returned to their home, but there were always those unfortunate few where the pet was found too late, and she feared that would happen to Esme. She had adopted the cat when she was only two months old and she had quickly wormed her way into her heart. Regina hadn’t necessarily been looking for a cat, but when Zelena walked in with the dirty ball of fluff, she couldn’t turn her away. They’d taken her to the vet and after confirming she was healthy, she had decided to keep her. 

She was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of her phone ringing, 

“Hello?”

“Hey, I’m on my way over now, have you found Esme yet?”

“No, but I did find someone to help me out. She helped set some humane traps and is going to stop by later as well.”

“Good good, be there in a few.”

“Thanks Zelena.”

***

The sun was going down and Regina had yet to see the cat. She was obsessively checking the traps every thirty minutes and every time she found them empty, her stress level only grew higher. She sent off a quick text to Emma letting her know that the traps were empty and she hadn’t spotted Esme yet before running back inside to check the app. 

“Do you want me to make dinner?”

“I’m not hungry.”

“You need to eat something Regina.”

“I need to find Esme.”

Regina sat down in front of the computer and refreshed the page again, scrolling down to read the latest comment.

“Could this be her? Found her in our drive way when we got home from work about 10 minutes ago. We brought her inside, no collar though. Our number is 207-555-8370 feel free to call if you think this is her!”

She scrolled down and saw the picture attached and burst into tears, “Zelena! Someone found her! She doesn’t have her collar on but I’d recognize that face anywhere!”

Zelena came running into the living room, “Are you sure? Where is she? Is she okay?”

“She looks okay, they posted a picture. I’m not sure where they live, calling now.”

“Hello? Yes, my name is Regina, you had posted a picture of a cat you found, that’s my cat. Thank you so much, is she okay? We can come right now, what’s your address? We’ll see you soon, thank you again, so much.”

“Well?”

“They’re just on the street over, let me grab her carrier and we can go get her.” 

Regina wiped under her eyes and sighed in relief, “I was so worried something had happened to her…” 

“She was probably just scared, like that rescuer told you earlier.”

The two climbed into Regina’s car and made the short drive over.

“Hi, I’m Aurora, you must be Regina, she’s right in the bathroom. We have a dog and didn’t want her to get scared by him.” 

“Thank you so much for bringing her inside, I’ve been so worried about her.”

“Of course, our dog got out of the backyard earlier this year and we were worried sick about him. It’s so hard when animals go missing. Come on, I’m sure you want to get her home.”

“Thank you.” 

Regina followed Aurora down the hall and through the bathroom door finding Esme curled up behind the toilet. She bent down and rubbed her thumb and middle finger together a few times, calling her name, smiling as the cat came running out from behind the toilet and rubbed against her hand. She scooped her up and hugged her tightly against her chest, burying her face into the soft fur.

“I was so worried about you Esme, never run off like that again.” She squeezed the cat once more before leaning down and putting her into the carrier, securing the door and standing up again.

“Thank you again so much Aurora, if there’s anything I can ever do to repay you guys… please let me know.”

“Oh don’t be silly, we are huge animal lovers and it was obvious she wasn’t a stray. I’m glad we were able to get her back to you.”

Regina smiled and thanked her once more before returning to the car, passing Zelena the cat carrier laughing as she immediately started berating the cat for running away.

“Did you let the cat rescue lady know you found her?”

“Shoot. I didn’t. I’ll text her as soon as we get home, I want to get Esme settled in again and fed. One thing is for sure, the next time we have a party she’s being locked in my room.”

She took the carrier from Zelena and made her way up the steps to her house, closing the door behind them before setting the carrier on the ground and opening it. As soon as Esme was out she scooped her up again, kissing the top of her head, and squeezing her.

“You’re going to squeeze her to death if you do it any harder.”

“I’m just glad she’s home.”

“Now can we make dinner?”

Regina rolled her eyes and nodded as they made their way into the kitchen. She set the cat down on the ground before throwing away the old food and replacing it with a fresh can. 

“Don’t forget to text what’s her face.”

“Emma.” Regina said as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and sent off a quick message,

‘Thank you so much for helping Emma. A neighbor found her and Esme is back home and safe. When would you like me to return your traps?’

She reached over and snapped a quick picture of Esme eating to send along before locking the screen again and making her way over to help Zelena prepare dinner. Before she was able to start the phone buzzed again and she looked, surprised to see Emma had responded already.

‘That’s great! So glad to hear she made it home safe. I can come by in a few and grab the traps if that’s okay?’

‘Sure. I’m home for the night, drop by anytime.’

***

Regina looked up as the doorbell rang, “Do you mind getting started on the dishes? I’m just going to help Emma with the traps.”

“Sure, but you’re not sticking me with all of them like you did this morning.” 

Regina rolled her eyes and walked away without another word towards the door, “Hey Emma, let me just open the garage, I moved all the traps in there earlier.”

“Great, thanks.”

She walked around and pressed the button to bring the garage door up before walking over to Emma. 

“Thank you again so much for lending your traps.”

“Anytime. Well, hopefully this doesn’t happen again.”

“Hopefully not, I’m definitely going to be locking her in my bedroom during parties from now on.”

Emma laughed, “Good idea. Well. I should be going, don’t hesitate to call if you run into any other cat issues.”

“Will do. Maybe I could pay you back by taking you out to dinner sometime?”

“Oh you don’t need to do that, this is just what I do.”

“I know, but, I’d really like to thank you properly.” 

Emma shifted from one foot to the other before nodding, “Alright, dinner would be nice.”

“Great, thank you again Emma.”

She picked up two of the traps and helped load them into Emma’s car before smiling at her again. 

“I’ll text you tomorrow about dinner?”

“Sounds great, see you around Regina.”

“See you.” 

Regina smiled as she watched Emma walk away, her eyes drawn to the swaying hips until she disappeared into the car, finally turning and walking back inside with a smile on her face. Esme was home and she couldn't wait to take Emma out for dinner.

**Author's Note:**

> If this inspired you to rescue cats, reach out! We really don't have enough fosters or rescuers and there are so many different jobs that need to be done. From fostering, trapping, transporting, calling to schedule appointments, and volunteering in shelters/adoption centers to help further socialize and keep cats active while they're in. Feel free to message me with any questions you may have about getting involved. 
> 
> Shameless plug, here is my rescue instagram if you'd like to stare at some cute kittens today. I specialize in neonate and critical care kittens. www.instagram.com/crazykittenchronicles


End file.
